Inside Spain: Madrid's closed parks and the new motorway toll plan

Spain is the European country with the most free highway kilometres in all of Europe, something drivers in the country are certainly grateful for.

However, for some time the European Union has been pushing Spanish authorities to change this reality, their main demand being that Spain charge drivers for every kilometre driven on its autopistas (highways).

So far, the Transport Ministry headed by Óscar Puente has refused to add new tollways to the country’s network, even though the EU has threatened penalties if Spain’s ruling Socialists didn’t implement such a system.

But now one of the country’s biggest construction conglomerates (Seopan) is also stressing the need for a pay-per-kilometre system.

Their argument is that they need the toll money to maintain the existing road network and continue expanding it, and that drivers should be helping to cover the €11.4 billion investment shortfall.

Currently, the maintenance of the Spanish road network is financed almost exclusively through the public budget, which means that the entire financial burden falls on taxpayers, even if they don't use the roads, diverting public resources from other areas such as pensions, healthcare and education.

Seopan’s proposal is to charge drivers on Spain’s entire highway network 3 cents/km.

That would make a drive from Madrid to Barcelona cost €18 in tolls, or Bilbao to Cádiz - crossing the country from north to south - €30.

Heavy transport such as trucks would pay much more, 14 cents/km, which would certainly add to the journey costs of lorry drivers.

Seopan also argues that the current model creates "territorial inequality," as Spain is the only major EU nation whose road network is mostly toll-free.

In fact, it accounts for 68 percent of toll-free motorway kilometres across the bloc. By contrast, 19 EU countries have 100 percent tolled highway networks.

Keeping in mind that Brussels holds the key to billions of euros of recovery funds which are meant to be sent to Spain, it may not be long before Madrid has no choice but to budge.

One thing is for sure, the country’s 28 million drivers won’t be happy about having to pay peajes (tolls in Spanish).

In completely different matters, anyone who’s been in the Spanish capital during summer knows how suffocating it can get.

Even though it’s a dry heat, all that concrete and lack of a sea breeze make walking the streets of Madrid feel like being in the world’s biggest oven.

A must for many Madrileños during summer is to spend time resting under the cooling canopy of Madrid’s iconic Retiro Park, a green ‘lung’ in the centre of the city.

Unfortunately, Madrid City Hall has decided to close the gates to the park just as the mercury was nearing 40C on several occasions this week.

Neighbours have said that it “goes against common sense” but mayor José Luis Almeida claims “it’s for people’s safety”.

The reason for cordonning off not just El Retiro but all of Madrid’s main parks is that, rather than trees providing much needed shade, authorities are worried that they could fall on parkgoers.

READ ALSO: Seven places to escape the heat in Madrid

According to the City Council, the Retiro Park is closed 1 percent of the time each year due to red weather alerts, and it is precisely during that short window of time that 80 percent of fallen branches and trees occur.

However, reputable media outlets such as news agency Europa Press and news site El Periódico de España have found that Madrid’s green spaces have been closed far more often than that, especially during the summer period.

If temperatures are above 35C and there are winds above 55km/h forecast, Madrid restricts access to its parks.

But that doesn’t convince residents of the Spanish capital, who feel that protecting themselves from dangerously high temperatures is a bigger priority during summer than the risk of falling branches.

Madrid’s opposition have called for a revision of the protocol.

The thing is, the current right-wing government of Madrid city and Madrid Community (who has Isabel Díaz Ayuso as its head) have a bit of a negative reputation when it comes to providing shade and chopping down trees.

They’ve preferred to install awnings in the central Puerto del Sol square at a cost of €1.5 million rather than planting trees, and they’ve previously been accused of chopping down thousands of trees, exacerbating the ‘heat dome’ problem that Madrid suffers from.

READ MORE: '63C in Plaza Mayor' - Greenpeace calls for return of Madrid's trees